managing a digital project
DESCRIPTION
A workshop at the University of Cambridge for researchers intending to create a digital output from their research, either as a product of their research findings, or for public engagement. The workshop explored the ways in which managing such a project differs from producing a traditional print output and raised the issues and decisions which will need to be considered.TRANSCRIPT
Managing a Digital Project
Digital Humanities NetworkCRASSH
Facilitators•Helen Webster, Digital Transferable
Skills project
•Chris Martin, CARET
•Jen Pollard, Computer Officer, English
•(with input from Anna Collins, DSpace@Cambridge)
Aims
•to highlight the differences between project managing traditional print-based outputs and digital artefacts.
•to raise the questions and issues that arise at each stage
What kind of Digital Project are you interested in creating?
Timeline: stick a post-it with
• Your name
•Type of project
•Title of your project
to indicate where on the timeline you feel you currently are:
TaxonomyTypes of digital project:
Primary (original sources)
•online databases
•digitised materials
•digital editions
Secondary (academic output)
Why Digital?If you’re applying for funding to create a digital artefact, you will need to make a solid case justifying why it needs to be digital.
Thinking about your proposed project, how would you answer the questions on the handout in a proposal?
Designing
Who is your user?•Swap project descriptions (page
one of handout).
•Read the new project description and analyse who the user might be.
•Return the project to its owner and discuss their own intended audience for it.
Designing
When is a digital project ‘finished’?
On a Post-it:
your definition of the point at which a digital project is
‘finished’
Finishing
Future-proofing•sustainability
•stability
•marketing
•evaluation
•lifespan
Finishing
Job Spec•What skills, knowledge and
experience are needed to complete your project?
•Which of these do you have?
•Which could you acquire?
•Which might you outsource to collaborators?
Making
Collaborators
•At what points do you need to bring collaborators in, and to do what?
•Who might your collaborators be?
•What information and motivation will they need to work with you?
Making
Digital Humanities and your Career
•What skills will you gain from working on this project?
•How limited or transferable are they? Will they date? How will you continue to develop them?
•Where might you seek work, with this skill set? What might that career progression look like?
You
Further links•Digital Humanities Network,
Cambridge
•CARET
•DSpace@Cambridge
•Faculty Computer Officer
•#Alt-Ac